Hi Luke,
I have no idea what a reticule is and I have never heard the term. To my knowledge a telrad is just a different version of a red dot finder which uses red rings instead of a dot. I cant comment much because I dont have or have never used one. All I can tell you is that when I got my RDF I wished my scope had come with one. I have only been "looking upwards" since may this year and so far I have observed 6 galaxies, 6 planets, several planetary nebula and many emission nebs. I guess I have had a lot of success but I am generally a bit of an obsessive person when it comes to hobbies. ie I tend to start a new hobby and get really passionate about it. (some would say obsessive
) None of the galaxies have been observed from my backyard and I live on the outskirts of a smallish town. Your block sounds like a good place to observe. Andromeda is usually in the north so light from the south shouldnt be too much of a problem.